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The HfP chat thread – Friday 2nd April

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We are running this daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the de facto repository for random comments and questions.  With the news flow being lighter, we are running fewer ‘Bits’ articles.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind.  At this tricky time, and given that many of you are at home, we want the HfP community to have a place to chat.

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article.  This has long-term benefits as it keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

Old chat threads are hidden from the HfP home page.  If you want to look for something in an old thread, click here.  This brings up all the articles in our ‘General’ category which includes the chat threads.

Comments (300)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • Blindman says:

    Was the accommodation open and accepting guests?

  • Andrew says:

    Sounds a lot less appealing!

  • NC says:

    Has anyone ever received a new Priority Pass for a closed Amex Platinum account? Just had one through the post but haven’t had Platinum in a long time.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      Are you sure it isn’t for a gold card you hold?

      • NC says:

        I don’t hold a Gold Card either (and haven’t for a long time). I also thought Gold = Lounge Club, not PP.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          They’ve recently replaced all LC with PP for gold card holders.

        • Blindman says:

          Stupid system

          Got one a few days ago for a Amex I cancelled 2 years back.

          Checked with Amex that the Amex card was cancelled and no-one ahd opened one for me!

    • QFFlyer says:

      Not a new one, but the PP associated with the ICC Platinum card I closed about a year ago is still active.

    • Blindman says:

      Yes

  • Anon says:

    What happens if a country is added to the red list. Do airlines cancel the ticket allowing full refund?

    • Chrisasaurus says:

      No, Brits aren’t the only people who fly (citizens of the 2nd country for example) plus some flight are able to operate anyway if cargo demand high enough.

      It makes it more likely it’ll be cancelled but it isn’t a direct reason

      • TGLoyalty says:

        They would have to cancel your red list to UK flight as they are not allowed to carry passengers.

        Obviously they may only cancel for two weeks at a time so it becomes a game of chicken.

        • Chrisasaurus says:

          That’s not at all correct, U.K. citizens/ passport holders are allowed to quarantined upon arrival from a Red list country

          • BS says:

            It is correct. They are not allowed to fly any passengers (of any nationality) directly from a red-list country to the UK

          • TGLoyalty says:

            But for the current 36 countries they must use indirect routes

            So now we have 36 red list countries with direct flight bans and 4 without

            The crystal clear red list fiascos continues.

  • Rob says:

    Might work for some people – if you buy lunch in a particular cafe each day for example. It would also lead to permanent behaviour shifts, eg you start buying all your books in the local independent, which shop owners might prefer.

  • Mikeact says:

    More headaches for loads of people.
    The Philippines, Pakistan, Kenya and Bangladesh are being added to England’s “red list” to protect the country against new variants of coronavirus, the UK government says

    • Anon says:

      Why are countries being added. Half our population is vaccinated

      • Tiff says:

        Philippines had its record-high daily increase in cases today.

      • Steve says:

        Unknown if the vaccination protects against new variants, that is why.

        • Dave says:

          There are no variants. This is just a scare tactic introduced during the vaccine rollout

          • Chrisasaurus says:

            Back to your nutty Facebook groups please Dave, grown-ups are talking

          • Dave says:

            You keep telling yourself. They just reintroduce lock downs in new terminology. Stay woke

          • Blindman says:

            And I suppose Man never walked on the Moon either?

          • Patrick Cold says:

            Poor Dave.

          • Dave says:

            Oh, so you believe just because you saw a rocket launch and a man waving a flag in some unknown studio room, its somehow real? Why havent multiple people been on the moon since? Srsly get a grip

          • Patrick Cold says:

            Dave: April 1st was yesterday. No-one here is going to fall for your nonsense.

      • A says:

        Even with the speed we’re vaccinating at there is going to be a small fourth wave as lockdown fully ends. So it makes sense to not make that worse with any new variants that we don’t know much about

      • Chris Heyes says:

        Anon You mean you don’t know why countries are being added ?

  • QFFlyer says:

    Yeah I got this on my Platinum Edge, hoping for a petrol station which participates in shop small, that’d be 6 MR:$1 😂.

    Was surprised to see it’s running for the whole year though, 4 MR:$1 is still 2x SQ miles per $1, so I’m in but I won’t specifically hunt down shop small merchants to use it, a few of my favourite restaurants are listed though.

    The extra points they offered at supermarkets last year took it to 6xMR:$1 total, which was an epic deal.

    • BuildBackBetter says:

      Has head for points started a US blog and I accidentally landed on it?

      • Louie says:

        “My son down under”. So no. But if Australia is doing Shop Small differently, maybe the UK will follow.

      • ChrisC says:

        Couple of comments about what’s happening in Australia are actually quite interesting.

        Mike at says his son is “down under” and QFFlyer looks to be in Australia as well.

  • Munch says:

    Called Virgin to cancel my flights to Tel Aviv next week and asked if a further status extension was in the pipeline. He checked my current expiry date for Silver and stated it had been extended to June 2022? Checking my online account states June 2021. Not sure if he made a mistake or it has been extended a further year.

    • Blindman says:

      My status matched Gold was extended by 3 months to April 2022 a few weeks back

      • Chris Heyes says:

        Blindman I was there, when man walked on the moon (well not actually there on the moon)
        Was at my Time-Share Apartment in Osborne House Torquay at the time
        So I’m sure they did (maybe ? lol)

        • Doug M says:

          Some great TV footage from that warehouse in Nevada 😉

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.